Chemical loops (CL) can be utilized in power generation plants (e.g., electricity or steam generation plants) which burn fuels such as, for example, coal, petroleum, biofuel, biomass, and other fuels. A typical system employing CL utilizes a high temperature process in which solids such as, for example, calcium-based or metal-based compounds, are “looped” between a first reactor, referred to as an oxidizer, and a second reactor, referred to as a reducer. In an oxidation reaction occurring in the oxidizer, oxygen from air injected into the oxidizer is captured by solids introduced to the oxidizer. The captured oxygen is then carried by the oxidized solids to the reducer where the oxygen is used for combustion and/or gasification of one of the aforementioned fuels such as, for example, coal. After a reduction reaction in the reducer, the solids release the captured oxygen and are returned to the oxidizer to be oxidized again, thus forming the loop and repeating the cycle.
In many generation systems, multiple CL loops interact. Control and optimization of CL processes and multiple-loop CL processes, in particular, can be complex. Not only does the transport of the solids complicate control and optimization, but the chemical and thermal reactions introduce variables such as, for example, time delay due to transport of the solids and chemical reaction rates in the combustion and gasification processes, which is generally accounted for in the control and optimization system.